Our View: Plenty of holes in our Stocking; please help fill it

Wednesday

Dec 11, 2013 at 12:01 AM

The Rockford Register Star’s Empty Stocking Club campaign started more than a month ago with an ambitious goal: $60,000. We’re only a few days away from distributing toys and we’re well short of our goal.

We have a little more than $17,000 to go as we write this. That’s a pretty big number. The toy distribution will be from 9 to 11 a.m. Saturday at Rockford Rescue Mission Hope Place, 715 W. State St. We’ll still be collecting donations after the toy distribution.

Last year, skateboards, board games, dolls and other toys were distributed to 4,767 children. We’re not sure how many children will show up — we don’t have a final tally of registrations yet — but we expect more than last year because economic conditions around here haven’t improved much. (See last item.)

We fell about $5,000 short of our goal last year, and we were hoping to make it this year so that we could continue our holiday tradition of giving Boone and Winnebago County children in need at least one present to open on Christmas. Children also receive a pair of gloves or mittens.

No gift is too small, so if you can help out, please send your contribution to Empty Stocking Club c/o Associated Bank, 612 N. Main St., Rockford, IL 61103-6997.

Think warm thoughts: It’s awful cold right now, but let’s think ahead to summer and the second CommUNITY Pick-nic at Midway Village Museum off Guilford Road in Rockford.

Last year’s inaugural event drew more than 1,000 people. That’s good, but we’d like to see more people show up for this free event scheduled for June 22. There will be games and music, and you can learn about the history of Rockford by strolling through the various buildings that make up the museum. David Byrnes, president of Midway Village, would like people to think about Midway Village when they think about the history of our community.

As we embark on the quest to transform Rockford into a top-25 community, it’s important for residents to get together to celebrate the things we have in common. The Pick-nic offers such an opportunity.

What would entice you to join the fun? Byrnes is soliciting suggestions as he plans for this year’s event. He has a lot of great ideas, but he’d like to hear from you. Send him an email with your thoughts: david.byrnes@midwayvillage.com. We’d like to see your suggestions also, so copy us at opinions@rrstar.com.

Jobless rate: It continues to be a good news/bad news scenario on the local employment scene. Good news: The unemployment rate in Boone and Winnebago counties fell to 10.5 percent and the jobless numbers have been down year over year for 40 of the past 41 months. Bad: There were fewer people working.

The October jobless rate for the city of Rockford was 12.3 percent, up from 12.2 percent last October. Winnebago County’s jobless rate was 10.7 percent, unchanged from last year. Belvidere’s rate fell 1.3 percentage points, from 11.5 percent to 10.2 percent. Boone County’s rate was down from 9.9 percent to 9.6 percent.

The best present Santa can bring to people of northern Illinois is jobs. He hasn’t been able to deliver those for quite some time.